COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s soccer team hosts Wake Forest in an exhibition at 7 p.m. Saturday at Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The match is the Buckeyes’ final tune-up before they open the regular season at home against Illinois State Aug. 21 and nationally-ranked Florida Aug. 23.

The Buckeyes, under the direction of 19th-year head coach Lori Walker, return eight starters and 14 letterwinners of last year’s team that finished 6-10-3 overall, 3-7-3 in Big Ten play. Sophomore forward Sammy Edwards is back after leading the Buckeyes with six goals a year ago along with junior defender Nicole Miyashiro, who paced Ohio State with five assists.

11 AT HOME AND FREE ADMISSIONThe Buckeyes’ schedule includes 11 matches at Bert L. & Iris S. Wolstein Field at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium this season with Big Ten action kicking off Sept. 17 against Minnesota. Admission is free to all Ohio State women’s soccer home games.

THE COACHING STAFFOhio State is under the direction of 19th-year head coach Lori Walker. She has guided the team to nine NCAA Tournament berths (2002-03-04-07-09-10-11-12-13), a Big Ten regular season championship (2010) and three Big Ten Tournament championships (2002, 2004, 2012). Her record at Ohio State is 202-141-34 and her career record, including two seasons at Kansas, is 215-164-35.

Associate head coach Chris McLain is in his first season while Nick Flohre enters his second season as an assistant coach with the Buckeyes.

JESSE OWENS MEMORIAL STADIUMJesse Owens Memorial Stadium, the home to the Buckeyes, has provided quite the home-field advantage for the women’s soccer team. Some stats about the facility:

– The home team is 109-43-16 all-time. – Ohio State is 90-26-14 since 2003 and 44-14-6 since 2009.

UP NEXTOhio State opens the regular season at home against Illinois State at 7 p.m. Aug. 21.